The mobile week that was in 5 links

Week Nr. 5!This week, there are actually 6 links to share… We published an article on Developer Economics’s blog on the history of mobile marketing. In this article, we summarize the evolutions of the mobile industry over the past 4 years, in an effort to better understand where it’s headed and why.Click here to read it! As always, please let us know your thoughts.What was worth reading during Week 5:

Zynga buys NaturalMotion for $527M (TechCrunch)Without doubt the most striking news in mobile gaming this week, Zynga announced the acquisition of Oxford-based outfit NaturalMotion for $527 million in cash and equity ($391M and $136M or 39.8M Zynga shares, respectively). It will be interesting to see how Zynga integrates NaturalMotion’s portfolio and 3D technology.

Facebook now enables advertisers to retarget people who used their mobile app (TheNextWeb)The Custom Audiences feature now allows marketers to retarget and re-engage users who have visited their website or mobile app, notably through enhanced call-to-action buttons (Shop Now, Learn More, Sign Up, Book Now, or Download). This feature also enables cross-device retargeting (eg. from web to mobile).

Japan’s mobile gamers prefer local games (alistdaily)A study by app analytics company Hitracking shows that over a third of Japanese mobile gamers have never played any foreign game. Among the respondents who however have played foreign games, the title most often mentioned is Supercell’s Clash of Clans. The study also reveals that Japanese mobile gamers’ favorite type of game is the puzzle genre. Click here to read the original article.

Alibaba announces the launch of three mobile games (TechInAsia)Chinese web and e-commerce giant Alibaba unveiled its first three mobile games, now available on two of its mobile apps: Laiwang (messaging) and Taobao. One of the games, “Crazy Toy”, offers bonuses which can later be redeemed on Alibaba’s e-commerce sites. This recent move shows that Alibaba seems to be increasingly competing with Tencent and its WeChat messaging platform. The OTT (“over the top”) messaging apps are likely to remain one of the main drivers of growth in 2014 for mobile gaming in Asia.

What will the Year of the Horse bring for the Chinese mobile industry? (Chukong on PocketGamer.biz)Lei Zhang of Game Developer Chukong Technologies gives his views on what lies ahead for the Chinese Mobile market, in terms of publishing and distribution. Worth a read to keep track of developments in this space.

Thomas heads up content marketing at Applift. As such he’s in charge of sourcing, curating, creating and distributing insightful content to increase visibility and thought leadership for the company. Thomas loves to scrutinize the relentless and thrilling developments of the mobile industry. You can follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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